


Blackout - Part Two

by FFanon



Series: Can't Get Enough [2]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Domestic Fluff, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Fluffy Ending, Romantic Fluff, blowjob, non-ZA
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-10
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-25 08:14:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17721491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FFanon/pseuds/FFanon
Summary: Shane wakes up at Rachel's the morning after the blackout.  Hoping to spend the day with her before work, they have to end up cutting it very short.  By the end of the day though, Shane makes a realization.





	Blackout - Part Two

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Emeli_Thorne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emeli_Thorne/gifts), [allinourprivatetraps](https://archiveofourown.org/users/allinourprivatetraps/gifts).



> So, I may make these two a series. Though this one is directly after the first chapter, the rest would probably be one-shot types.

The power apparently came back on sometime in the middle of the night.  When Shane wakes up first, he blinks away the sleep before checking the cable box and seeing the digital clock displayed. 

Sleeping on the floor isn’t preferable for anyone, but he still would rather have been here with them than at home, worrying about them, or at the station house, enjoying the luxuries of the generator knowing that they were stifling back here.

He had slept in his boxer briefs; they both had trouble falling asleep, despite the breeze from the fan.  She was still wearing his tshirt and she still had not put panties on since he fucked her on the dresser.  And with him in just his underwear, it was inevitable that they started making out while laying there in the darkness.

It wasn’t long after that she was on top of him, him inside of her, rolling her hips as her hands braced against his chest.  He slipped his hands under the hem of the shirt, hands molding over her breasts, lightly squeezing before smoothing his hands down her stomach, moving to her hips. 

She had leaned down, kissing him as she continuously lifted her hips up and down.  Soon enough her brows furrowed and her mouth fell open as her body quivered.  He gently mouthed at her chin as she moaned in pleasure.  Back in control of her body, she kept going until a deep groan left his body as he twitched inside of her.

Aside from the pleasure of it, sleep found them pretty quick afterwards.  Shane wakes up on his back, his hand resting on his ribcage.  His other hand is at his side, and it’s wrapped around Rachel’s.  He turns his head and she’s on her back too, her other arm stretched into Delilah’s bed, Delilah’s head resting on her hand.

Both of them are still asleep, Delilah snoring like a locomotive which just makes him smile to himself.

His thumb smooths across Rachel’s knuckles before slowly letting go of her hand.  He stands up and as quietly as he can, he closes the balcony door.  He then immediately turns on her air conditioner before stepping behind the kitchen counter and turning on the Keurig.

The room feels cooler pretty quick, so he grabs the throw on the back of her couch and lays back down, spreading it out over himself and her.  Rachel had shifted when he got up.  She rolled onto her side, facing her pup, her hand now resting on the floor in front of her. 

Shane presses his chest to her back, arm moving over her to hold her close.  He kisses the back of her head before resting his face at the nape of her neck, falling back to sleep.

**~~~**

The urge to pee wakes Rachel.  She stretches her body out, the floor not being very forgiving, and rubs her eyes before feeling awake enough to move.  She smiles at the sight of Delilah and slowly withdraws her hand from the hairy chin resting on top of it. 

She then realizes there’s a blanket over her and Shane’s arm is draped over her side.  She pulls the blanket back off of her and slowly takes his forearm and lifts it up, placing it down behind her.

“Mornin’ to you too,” Shane’s deep, tired voice says from behind her. 

She jumps and quickly turns to face him, “Oh my god,” her hand to her chest.

Shane’s eyes are still closed but he has a smile on his face at hearing that she got scared by his greeting.

“I’m sorry,” she breathes out a laugh and he opens his eyes.  Quickly she explains, “I have to go to the bathroom. Good Morning,” before planting a quick kiss on his lips.

Shane watches as she gets up and heads into the bathroom, closing the door.

He lets out a tired groan and rolls onto his back, stretching his arms out before pulling them back in.

Once she’s finished in the bathroom, she walks out and into her bedroom where she grabs a pair of panties from a drawer.  She walks back into the living room, and sees Shane’s still awake.

“Thank you for putting the air conditioner on,” she stands there and slips each leg into the underwear before pulling them up.

Shane just lifts his hand up and motions with his fingers to come over to him.

Rachel grins and walks over, kneeling at his side and holding her hair over her shoulder so she can lean down and kiss him.

Shane wraps his arms around her, kissing her in return, and pulls her over his body to lay her down next to him making her giggle into the kiss.

“You slept on the floor for us,” she states the obvious to him.

“You say it like it’s a big deal,” he mumbles against her neck as his lips kiss her tenderly there.

“It is to me,” she answers, hand sliding into his hair.

At that, Shane lifts his head to look down at her.  His hand cups her cheek, thumb brushing the corner of her mouth before kissing her.

His strong arms wrap around her, as he pulls her into his body more.  As she parts her lips more for him, he leans into her, hand sliding down her back and moving along the curves of her cute ass. 

Delilah wakes up and slowly stands up.  The jingle of her collar doesn’t register to them, too involved in each other, until Delilah’s wet nose pushes against Shane’s tricep.

Shane pulls away from Rachel, both of them in a daze, as he looks over his shoulder to see the old girl standing there, tail wagging.

With a laugh, he lets Rachel go and leans back, “Well good morning darlin’,” he coos before rubbing her head.

Rachel smiles and scratches Delilah’s neck, “Hey there Lilah girl.”

Delilah walks more in between them and enjoys the attention.  She licks Rachel’s chin then Shane’s arm. 

When she starts to whine though, Rachel realizes she needs to go out.

“Okay, little miss, let’s get you outside,” Rachel kisses her dog’s face then stands up.

“I’ll take her,” Shane states, and stands up with her.

“No, Shane, it’s okay. You already –“ but Shane’s lips cut her off. 

“It’ll take two seconds to throw my clothes back on.  ‘Sides, you stay just like this,” his smirk making her blush, but laugh.

“Fine,” she relents, giving his arm a tender squeeze.

As Shane gets dressed, Rachel grabs Delilah’s leash and attaches it to her collar.  Crouching down, she takes Delilah’s face in her hands and kisses her nose, “You be a good girl, okay?  If you’re not, he may just lock you up,” she teases and looks up at Shane who lets out a laugh when he hears that. 

“Nah, I’d let her off with a warnin’,” he answers with a grin.

“Because she’s so adorable, right?” Rachel asks before smiling at her best friend and whispering, “Yes you are.”

“That’s absolutely why,” Shane nods in agreement making her smile more.

He zips up the sides of his boots and stands up from the couch, “Ready.”

Rachel kisses Delilah’s head and stands up, holding the leash out to him.

Shane takes it and follows both girls to the front door.  Rachel opens it and stands to the side to let them out. 

As he passes by, Shane kisses her hair. 

“Alright, Miss Delilah, I hope you’re gonna give me the scoop on the other dogs ‘round here,” she hears Shane joke to the older pup as they enter the elevator a few doors down.

While they’re gone, Rachel heads into the bathroom and brushes her teeth.  Glancing in the mirror, she brushes her hair a little before heading back into the small kitchen and opening her fridge.  She made sure to not open it more than maybe three times when the lights were out to preserve any food she could.  As she looks inside, she takes a whiff and a couple things strike her as having gone bad.  Finding the sources, she tosses them out before seeing what else she has. 

Grabbing the eggs and bread, she closes the fridge and starts making scrambled eggs and toast. 

It’s a good ten minutes later that she hears the elevator ding and she pops a K-cup into the coffee machine, making a cup of coffee. 

As she suspected, Shane walks inside with Delilah soon after.

“She is officially cleaned out for the time being,” he states before unclipping the leash from her collar.

It makes Rachel laugh, before she points to the mug sitting in the Keurig, “That’s for you.”

Delilah goes to drink water and once she smells the scrambled egg Rachel put in her food dish for her, she happily eats that up along with her normal breakfast of canned dog food.

“Gonna hit the bathroom quick,” Shane shares before heading there.

He’s stayed over before, so he has his own toothbrush there.  After going to the bathroom, he brushes his teeth before heading back out to her.

Just as he does, Rachel’s placing the two plates of breakfast on the raised bar of her counter where she has three stools on the other side.  She places that mug of coffee for him by one and places a second one by the other.

She hops up on her stool before he does. Walking over to her, he brings his hand to her throat tenderly and she lifts her chin to accept the kiss he gives her.  Then he takes a seat on his stool, and takes a bite of the eggs.

Rachel lifts a foot to the stool top, hugging her knee to her chest.  The position gives Shane a nice glimpse of those red lace panties she pulled on earlier.

He grabs her stool and pulls her closer as she’s mid-bite.  Smiling around the fork in her mouth, she finishes taking a bite and looks at him with a raised brow as she chews.

Shane keeps his eyes on her as he takes a sip of his coffee.  Then he runs his palm over her bent knee, leaning forward to press a kiss to it.  He keeps a light hold of her shin as he takes a bite of his toast.

When he looks at her, he gives a small tilt to his head and she runs her hand along the underside of his forearm.

“I don’t have to go into work until four,” he informs her.

She gives a small hum of acknowledgment as she takes a bite of toast.  He watches as her tongue licks some crumbs from her bottom lip.

“Does that mean that you have time for a shower?” she asks with a playful squint.

Shane smirks, “It does.”

She nods slowly, “One with me, I mean,” she looks at him, a hint of a smirk on her lips.

Shane plays along, “Ohh…then, no.”

Laughing, she squeezes his thigh, “Hey!”

Shane hangs his head with a laugh then looks at her and she just smiles with a short shake of her head. 

“Okay…I’ll shower with you on one condition,” he holds up his index finger and squints his left eye.

She tries and fails at holding back a smile, “Yeah, what’s that?”

“I take you to bed right after.”

Rachel and Shane keep eye contact as she pretends to mull it over.  Then she nods.

“That seems fair. Okay.”

Shane puts his hand out and Rachel shakes it.  But quickly, he moves his hand so that he brings her hand to his mouth and kisses the back of it.

Getting back to normal, Shane keeps hold of her hand, thumb running over the spot he kissed when he looks at her.

“Hey, would you maybe want to go to dinner with Rick and Lori sometime?”

Rachel knew of Rick and Lori, but never met them.  Just like Shane knew of her friends, but never met them.  It wasn’t that they were hiding their relationship, but it’s still new and it’s so good that there was almost a hesitancy to bring it to the light so to speak. 

But if they were both looking to carry this forward, they’d have to eventually.

She nods, not realizing a blush comes to her cheeks, “Yeah, that sounds like fun.”

Shane fights back a smirk and looks at her, “What?”

She doesn’t know how he’s able to read her so well sometimes, but he can. 

“How do you always do that?”

It only makes him laugh and lean forward to pull her from her stool and onto his thigh, arms around her waist to keep her steady.

She can’t fight the small smile on her face when he pulls her close, her arm curling around his shoulders as she rubs her knuckles along his stubble.

“I’m just already nervous to meet them,” she admits with a soft breath of a laugh at how ridiculous she’s being.

“You really think I’d bring you into a situation where it wouldn’t go well?”

He’s right.  If he had any thought that it would go bad, she fully believes he wouldn’t put her through that.  In fact, if he really thought his closest friends wouldn’t like her, he’d probably have ended it with her already.

“You’re right.  I just –,“ and she looks at his sweet, brown eyes, “I really like this, what we have right now.”  And she doesn’t want anything to happen that could maybe bring it to an end.  Meeting friends always has that potential.

His voice goes soft and tender; a cute grin on his face, “So do I.”

“I don’t want anything to mess this up,” she adds, palm cradling his jaw, fingertips at his earlobe.

“Either do I,” he agrees, "And I promise you meetin’ them won’t do that.”

She tilts his face up a bit more and leans down until her lips are on his.

She slides her hand down to the side of his neck, the pad of her thumb grazing over his Adam’s apple as it moves when his tongue moves into her mouth.

He leaves her with a few slow kisses before pulling away.  Tilting his head, he kisses her throat, then the side of her neck.

“I could use that shower now,” she says almost breathlessly.

His response is slipping his arm under her knees, and standing up with her in his arms.  Rachel keeps her arms around his neck, kissing his jaw as he walks into the bathroom with her. 

Keeping an arm at her waist, he lets her legs go.

Rachel takes a step away from him, grabbing the hem of the shirt she has on and pulling it off over her head.

Shane can’t help himself, he picks her up at her waist and she wraps her legs around his hips.  He does it to have her breasts level with him and he slides his tongue over her nipples. 

Rachel grips his shoulders and looks down at his mouth on her skin.  She presses her mouth to his hair as he takes one of her breasts into his mouth, his tongue sweeping around it as he slowly pulls his mouth off.  She watches as he does the same thing to her other one, the breath from his nose tickling her chest.

He brings his tongue up between her breasts then kisses along her collarbone.

She uncrosses her ankles and he keeps a hold on her waist until her feet are back on the ground.  Rachel grabs the hem of his t-shirt, pulling it up until Shane takes over to pull it off completely, tossing it on the floor.

His hands come around her to grip her ass and her hands move to his belt, quickly undoing it.  Even when his lips capture hers, she opens her mouth more as she unbuttons and unzips his jeans. 

She moves Shane’s hands aside because she sinks to her knees in front of him.  She pulls the unzipped edges of the front of his jeans to the sides, revealing the waistband of his underwear. 

Shane watches as Rachel licks his skin right above the waistband.  Watches as she pulls the waistband and the front of his jeans down as far as they’ll go.  She runs her tongue from the lowest point, the very base of his dick, to the top of his pubic hair, then follows it up with a wet, open mouth kiss. 

His chest moves rapidly with each breath as he watches with anticipation, his hard on practically throbbing.

Finally, she grips the sides of both layers of fabric, pulling them down until his cock is standing at attention right in front of her.

When she gives a low hum at just the sight of him, he almost thrusts his hips a bit. He takes a sharp inhale when the plane of her tongue runs from the base to the head. 

She feels his hand slide into her hair and she wraps her hand around the base, slowly sliding it up and down as she looks up at him.  Even from down there, she can see how blown his pupils are with hunger. She keeps eye contact with him when she slides her lips over the head, tongue swirling along the soft tip before she takes all of him into her mouth.

As she bobs her head, she moves her hand at the base.  Rachel can hear him muttering curses of pleasure from above her.

A few times she pulls off of him, only to lick his full length and pump him some more before taking him all in again. 

“Shit, baby,” Shane utters in deep arousal.

After a few more minutes, she feels him jerk his hips pushing his dick to the back of her throat and she knows he’s almost there.

“ _Fuck_ , I’m -” he groans.

Seconds later, he coats the back of her throat.  His hand in her hair tightens its hold as he releases.  When she feels him going soft, she pulls off of him and licks her lips. 

Shane steps out of his pants pooled at his feet as Rachel stands back up.  A pleased smile on her face as she glides her fingertips along the dip of his V lines, Shane hungrily kissing her.

All of a sudden, Shane’s cell phone starts ringing from the living room.  He recognizes the ringtone as the one he uses when work’s calling. 

It takes her a second to open her eyes when she manages to pull back from him, her voice heavy with need despite her words, “Shane, your phone.”

“Yeah, I know,” he practically growls in annoyance before kissing her again.  Just as she’s about to lose all senses again, he pulls back.  Gives her one more quick kiss, then yanks a towel off the rack to wrap around his waist. 

Rachel covers the grin on her face, because she knows he’s doing that because of Delilah.  Told her once how he feels weird being naked in front of the dog.  She’ll tease him about it later.

He holds the towel at his waist and opens the door, walking over to his phone.

Rachel leans against the doorway, watching him. As soon as Shane puts the phone to his ear, he looks at her.  She watches as his eyes keep roaming up and down her body.

He takes in her flushed cheeks, swollen lips, and mussy hair - all while dressed in nothing but those damn red lace panties.

Shane’s annoyed before he even hears what the call is about.

Rachel can only hear his side and it doesn’t sound promising at first.

“Hey, what’s up?,” he answers.

A heavy sigh from her man.

“Yeah, alright. Just – give me like a half hour. I’m out doin’ stuff right now, gotta finish up and I’ll be right there,” his eyes on hers.

Once Shane tells that lie, she feels a bit more hopeful.

“Yeah, okay.  See you in a bit.”

Shane ends the call and puts his phone back on the counter. Shaking his head, “They have some bullshit left over from the blackout.  Need the lot of us to come back earlier than planned.”

Rachel nods but Shane’s quick to follow up.

“Choice is yours gorgeous – Shower or bed?”

And any simmering annoyance from the interruption is gone when he sees her smile at him.

She walks out from the bathroom doorway, but instead of heading over to him, she turns to enter her bedroom.  Stopping at the doorway, she looks over her shoulder at him and pulls down the back of her panties to wiggle her ass at him.  Then she disappears into the room.

When Shane walks in, she’s just stepping out of her panties, dropping them on the floor. He watches as she crawls onto the bed, staying on all fours.  A heated glance at him over her shoulder.

He shuts the door then drops the towel.  Opening the beside drawer that he knows so well, he pulls out a condom and within seconds is rolling it on. Kneeling on the bed, he smooths a hand over her right cheek.  He licks the pad of his thumb then slides it down her wet folds before rubbing at her clit.

It’s clear she wasn’t expecting that when at the sensitive feeling, her hips react by jerking forward and she’s letting out a gasp.

“Shane,” she weakly warns over her shoulder, looking at him.

“Couldn’t help myself,” he breathes with a lick of his lips, “But you’re right, I’d need more time.  I wouldn’t be able to stop with just my hands, you know that.”

She does. She hasn’t forgotten that one night he treated her exceptionally well with just his mouth and talented tongue.

She feels his hand on her lower back, keeping her still as he guides his length, brushing the tip against her clit before slipping inside of her.

Rachel moans and pushes back against him.

Shane grips her hips and starts thrusting as he pulls her hips back into him to meet each one.

The angle has her gasping quicker than normal and to draw it out a bit more, Shane stops thrusting for a brief moment.   And as he expected, Rachel picks it up instantly, moving her ass back and forth along his cock. He keeps his hands on her, smoothing up to her waist before bringing them back to roam down her thighs.

When he finally takes a good hold of her again, back to thrusting into her, she drops to her forearms, forehead resting against her hands as her moans get more high-pitched. 

The second she pushes back up onto her hands, he reaches around her hip and starts rubbing her clit. 

Her thighs tremble and when she’s pushing back against him, he rubs a little faster until she has to drop to her forearms again to scream into a pillow.  Her body tensing, he holds her hips still as he’s fully inside her, let’s her contractions work themselves out as her mind goes blank at the intensity.

He thrusts a few more times until he jerks inside of her and his mouth falls open with a few groans with each twitch of his release.

Slowly, Shane pulls out of her, standing up from the bed to get rid of the condom.

Rachel slowly straightens her legs out until she’s laying on her stomach, her body still recovering from the pleasure he gave her.

She feels his kisses at her calves first.  Then his lips are moving along the back of her thighs.  Along with the kisses, is his large hand roaming across her soft skin as he goes.  When he nips at her hip making her twitch, she feels his smile against her hip, then another kiss.

Rachel twists her body and rests her temple against the palm of her hand as she leans on an elbow, watching him move along her body.

Shane looks up at her from under his lashes, and keeps placing a trail of kisses along her side as he crawls over her.

He runs his teeth over her breast before kissing it, then finally kisses her lips.

She curls her hand around the back of his neck, and brings him down with her as she lays her head back down on the bed.

“Don’t take this the wrong way…” she starts, voice low as she runs a fingertip down his nose, then over his cupid’s bow where Shane kisses the pad of it, “…but I hate your job sometimes.”

And she can’t help but quietly laugh, because she knows he understands what she means.  Sex like that only for him to have to leave soon.

He smiles, those lines at the corner of his eyes appearing, “Yeah, me too,” kissing her. 

She takes hold of his face and pulls him away, then pulls his face down just enough until she can kiss those laugh lines at his sweet eyes.

“You’re so cute,” she tells him as she brings his mouth back to hers.

God, his mouth moves so _good_.

More often than not, she has to focus again when he finishes kissing her because it leaves her feeling lightheaded.

“And so goddamn sexy,” she adds when his lips move from hers.  Her hand runs down his firm chest, over his nicely toned stomach.

Shane grabs her wrist and brings it back up, “You keep manhandlin’ me and I’m gonna be leavin’ here with a situation I don’t want to have to take care of at work,” a kiss to her palm.

“Yes, sir,” she mocks seriousness, but a smirk breaks through.

Shane growls in this throat, hand sliding along her cheek until his fingers are buried in her tresses and he can’t help but roughly kiss her because she is the sexiest woman he swears he’s ever seen.

But as rough as it started out, the kisses grow softer.  Rachel gives the back of his head some gentle scratches and Shane caresses her side all the way down to her thigh. 

Pulling away, she leaves a chaste kiss behind on him.

“You gonna be turnin’ in early tonight?” It’s Sunday and she works a normal 9 to 5 job.  With him getting off work at midnight, he knows he won’t be seeing her later.

“Mhm,” she gives an affirmative, but disappointed, hum.

“Alright,” he nods, “Well I’m off tomorrow and Tuesday, you think I could meet you for lunch? Or we could do dinner.”

“Either one sounds perfect.”

“Good,” he grins, “We’ll figure it out,” he brings the back of his fingers down her jaw then swipes his thumb at her chin, “Alright, I gotta get goin’.”

But Shane doesn’t move, just keeps looking at her.  Rachel makes the move, pressing her nose against his cheek, before kissing the side of his nose.

With a tiny, sweet smirk Shane kisses her then finally starts moving.

Rachel stands up too, pulling on her bathrobe and tying it at her waist.

“You want me to get your clothes so you don’t flash Delilah?”

Shane’s brows draw together as he looks at Rachel’s amused face.

He’s quick to roll up the towel and snaps it at her butt, just barely getting her. 

She jumps back with a laugh and wags her finger at him before opening the door and disappearing out of view.  Rachel picks up his discarded clothes from the bathroom floor and brings them back into the bedroom for him.

Plopping them next to where he sits on the edge of the bed, she then moves between his spread thighs and Shane tilts his head back with a soft grin, looking up at her.

She glides the back of her hands along the stubble at either side of his jaw, then sweetly takes his face in her hands and leans down, lightly pressing her lips to his in a whisper of a kiss.

Rachel watches as his eyes close with just that light touch so she parts her lips, inviting him to do the same.  Their kiss is full of passion, her nails digging into his jaw as she clutches onto him as his lips move against hers.

Shane takes his time ending it, but when he does finally pull away, she kisses his nose before stepping back to let him get dressed.

Rachel stands back, slightly leaning back against her dresser as Shane stands up, eyes only moving from her when he turns to pick up his underwear from the small pile on the bed.

She lets her eyes wander along his body, along the flexing of his muscles, as he grabs each item of clothing, pulling it on.

As he gets dressed, she feels an ache of missing him.  He hasn’t even left yet and her whole being already misses his presence, preparing itself for the heartbreak of the inevitable.

She just has to confirm, “So even though you have to go in so much earlier, you still have to work until midnight?”

Shane’s buckling his belt and looks at her as his hands continue, “Yeah,” he shares with some disappointment, then a shrug, “At least it’s a good amount of overtime.”

She just nods, as his attention goes back to finishing up with his belt, then grabbing his t-shirt.

“Shane…” and the gentle tone has him looking at her again.  She knows it might be stupid to even enter back into this territory, but her curiosity is too strong.

“…Will you tell me what happened last night that you and Rick were able to handle?”

He just stares at her, eyes flitting between hers as she watches him think.  He pulls his shirt on and shakes his head, “It’ll only make you worry, make you scared.  I don’t want to leave you like that every time I go to work.”

He takes the few steps over to her.  She looks at his handsome face as he brings his hand up to run through her hair. 

“You already do,” she shares quietly, eyes moving to his neck because she doesn’t want to see the concern in his eyes.

“Rach,” he softly says her nickname, wanting her to say more.  Shane brings a hand to her cheek as he grabs her hip.  She feels his thumb immediately start rubbing the fabric of her bathrobe to sooth her in some way.

She smooths her hand up his forearm of the arm at her hip, and lightly molds her fingers to the one at her cheek.

“It’s not your fault, you don’t do anything to make me feel that way,” she assures him, “but just knowing what you do, it’s enough to make me worry about you.”

The way his brows draw together at her words makes her feel bad for even admitting that.  He presses his lips to her forehead and exhales through his nose in a sigh. 

Rachel lets him go to run her fingers down his chest before touching his jaw as he kisses her forehead.

“So why do you want to know about last night? It’ll only make it worse,” he’s gentle in his tone, doesn’t want to make her think that he’s trying to argue with her.

She shrugs, looks at him, “I don’t know.  It may make it worse, but maybe knowing what you’ve already been able to get through will help.”

Shane thinks to how Rick barely tells Lori any of the bad shit that happens to them and they’ve been married longer than anyone else he knows.  And he likes Rachel, so much.  If he just bares the truth, there’s a real risk in it being too much for her to deal with, a risk of losing her.

His tongue juts out to lick his lips, “You know how you’re worried that meeting Rick and Lori could ruin this?”

When she nods, he continues in almost a whisper, “Well I’m worried this might.”

It’s her turn to be confused, “Why?” placing her hand over his that’s still on her cheek.

When he pulls his hand off her cheek, his fingers are quick to grasp her hand in his and brings them down, fingers laced.

“Because if it ends up makin’ it worse, you might not want to be with a cop.  Might find that it’s too much for you deal with.”

She braces her other hand on his chest as she moves up on her toes a bit and kisses him, “I worry about you because I like you.  I really like you, Shane,” and even though he knows she’s about to say more, he just needs to cut her off to kiss her for just those words.

It makes a cute smirk appear on her face for a second before she continues, “I’ll deal with whatever I have to if it means I still get to be with you.”

He pulls their connected hands past his hip in order to pull her forward, and when he lets go of her hand to loosely wrap his arms around her hips, she brings her arm up under his to grip onto his shoulder blade as her other moves around his waist.

“How do I say no to that?” he sweetly asks, kissing her cheek.

She feels his arms let her go, so she releases her hold on him too.  Shane takes her hand and moves back to the bed, taking a seat and pulling her onto his knee.

“Alright,” a deep breath, “We, uh, we got a call for some guys breakin’ into a store, stealin’ shit.  Like I said, the heat brings out the best in people,” she notices his eyes never land on her, only a couple quick glances as he tells the story.  Usually his eyes are on her legs, his hand stroking her knees as he speaks.

Rachel listens intently while burying her hand into the back of his hair, gently massaging his scalp for a few seconds here and there.

“We pull up and as expected, they take off runnin’.  I jumped out first, eyes on one of these assholes, and just fuckin’ haul ass after him.  Streets are dark as shit, I didn’t have time to even pull out my flashlight but my eyes were already adjusted to the dark, you know?  I get to him and tackle him.  He’s fightin’ me and somehow, he uh, he manages to yank my gun outta my holster.”

Her hand stills at that.  Her heart starts beating even faster. 

“I got my vest on, but being close like that -,” he just shakes his head instead of explaining further, “We wrestled around for a couple minutes and I finally got it back.  Held it on him, handcuffed ‘im, and waited for Rick to pull up with the cruiser.”

Finally, he looks at her, keeps eye contact as he makes this last bit clear, “But I’m okay.  I’m here.”

She bites her lower lip as she fights the lump in her throat, just nods to his words. 

Shane still sees her lip tremble first then sees her eyes get watery.

“No, no, hey,” he kisses her jaw, takes her hand and places it over his beating heart.

And despite the emotion, she finds it in herself to be a bit stern when she says, “I’m allowed to still be upset by it.”

He doesn’t know why – maybe it’s because she’s so sweet, but still has that fire in her – that she isn’t afraid to hold her own with him – but when she says that, he can’t help but openly smirk as he utters, “Okay.”

If she notices, she doesn’t comment on it, instead just keeps looking at him like she doesn’t know what to do first.  So, Shane decides for her.

He presses kiss after kiss along her jaw, her chin, until she’s moving her face to fit her lips to his and holds his face as she kisses him with everything. 

She leaves him with a kiss to his bottom lip before resting her forehead against his.

“Is it worse?” he quietly asks.

“For right now, yes,” she admits, “But there’s not one part of me that wants to walk away.”

“Okay,” he lets out in a tiny sigh of relief and tenderly slides his fingers into her hair before gliding them down to the ends.

She pets his cheek, then stands up, because she knows he’s going to be running late now.  Shane stands up after her, giving her hip a small squeeze as she leads him out of her bedroom.

Shane makes sure to take a knee in front of Delilah, who instantly rolls onto her side exposing her belly.

“Yeah? You know I’m good for it, don’t ya?” and he gives her belly a good scratch.

With no time for him to finish his coffee or pick up a fresh one, as Shane gives attention to her pup, Rachel grabs one of her own travel mugs and fills it with coffee for him.

Shane runs his palm along the side of Delilah’s snout, “As always, it’s been a pleasure Miss Delilah,” gives her belly another scratch before standing up.

Turning towards her, Shane looks at the travel mug she’s holding out to him.  His hand wraps around it, fingers on hers, and as he takes it from her, he’s using his other hand to cup her cheek.  He slants his mouth over hers, a seconds-long kiss, “Thank you, sweetheart.”  He only lets her go after he kisses the tip of her nose.  

“I’ll try to call you before you’re goin’ to bed,” he tells her.

“Would you reconsider staying over again tonight?” she asks.  

“I don’t want you stayin’ up for me or leavin’ your door unlocked either.”

He watches as she pulls open a kitchen drawer, pulling something out, then moving back to him. She takes his hand, opens it, and drops a key into his palm. 

Shane looks at it, moves it around in his palm before looking to her.

“Even if I’m asleep,” she states with a small shrug of her shoulder.

He looks at it again and nods slowly.  A small grin on his face, “I’ll try not to wake you.”

**~~~**

After a fourteen-hour day that felt more like twenty-four hours, he’s dead on his feet.  It simultaneously feels late and early, he can’t wait to go to bed. 

Slowly he slides the spare key into the lock and opens the door, the only light is a dimmed one in the kitchen so Delilah can see her water dish. 

Quietly he closes the front door and locks it.  Rachel’s bedroom door is open and Delilah’s snoring fills the apartment; the old girl doesn’t even raise her head at his entrance, her hearing fits her age.

Shane places the key on the kitchen counter, unsure if Rachel meant it for him to keep or just to use for tonight. With his duffel bag in hand, he decides to head into the bathroom to undress because he really doesn’t want to disturb her. 

He shuts the door and proceeds to brush his teeth.  Having already showered at work before he left, he then just simply strips down to his underwear, stuffing his clothes into his bag.  With his bag in one hand and his boots in his other, he uses his foot to push the bathroom door open.  Standing there is Delilah, tail wagging. 

Shane smiles and keeps his voice to a whisper, “Hey darlin’.  Missed you too.  Come on girl,” and he leads her into Rachel’s room, Delilah licking his calves a couple times.  Quietly he puts his bag and boots down by her dresser, then bends over to give Delilah some scratches and a couple head kisses.  Seemingly satisfied, she walks a little past him to curl up on the floor.

When he stands back up, he finally looks at his girlfriend asleep in the bed.  She’s snuggled under her blankets in the fetal position, because she loves to keep the air conditioner a bit higher so she _can_ snuggle like that, her face turned down, nose buried by the comforter. 

Shane feels a calm wash over him, a feeling of contentedness that he can’t remember when the last time he felt that way was.  She’s all he wants, all he needs right now.

Lifting his side of the blankets, he slips into bed, adjusting the sheets over him. 

The bed feels like heaven after the long day he’s had, but more so because of Rachel being there with him.  As long as the day was, whenever he thought about how he’d be coming home to her, it made it bearable because he was working towards something he so desperately wanted.  Even with her asleep, just being with her, it’s everything.

He finds her thigh under the sheets, smooths his hand over it as he kisses her head. 

As if his touch awakens her senses, her body shifts.  Legs straightening out, face turning towards his as she settles against the pillow more. She doesn’t even open her eyes when in a dazed tone, “Shane?”

She’s still asleep, he can tell.  She won’t even remember this in the morning. 

He tenderly glides his knuckles along her cheek, “Yeah, baby, it’s me.”

The only response is a sleepy grin on her face before her hand moves to rest on his arm. And as tired as he is, he can’t help but watch her sleep a little bit.  When he’s sure she’s asleep again, no more sleepy words coming his way, he feels his heart thudding in his chest.

Looking at her, words lower than even a whisper, he’s only brave enough to confess when he knows she can’t hear him.

“I think I’m fallin’ for you.”


End file.
